Marko Rakar (1972) is a Chief executive manager of the consulting company MRAK services ltd headquartered in Zagreb, Croatia.

Rakar has a lifelong experience in working/writing for media as well as dealing with the media. He combines his media knowledge with new technologies and was one of the earliest internet adopters in Croatia. He is a recognized lecturer and consultant the subjects of organization, internet, new media as well as politics and statistics.

Rakar ran or participated as consultant on a number of successful campaigns and races for organizations, parties and independent candidates on presidential, parliament and municipal elections in Europe, Asia and US.

He had worked on projects for various international institutions such as Council of Europe, European Fund for the Balkans, United Nations Development Programme, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), World Bank, Transparency International, U.S. State Department, Olof Palme International Center, Open Government Partnership and the Croatian Government. He has been for several years member of the jury for the Pollies award of the American Association of Political Consultants and a member of the jury for the World eDemocracy awards.

In his work with governments, law enforcement and corporations he worked as a data scientist and architect of advanced statistical, BI and predictive analytics systems designed to predict customer/supplier behavior, increase process efficiencies, find and eliminate hidden costs and simplify decision making, as well as identify, prevent, and/or disrupt criminal, fraudulent and money laundering activities..

Rakar studied Philosophy and Information sciences, University of Zagreb, speaks English fluently and is regular columnist and author to several blogs, web sites, newspapers and magazines in Croatia and internationally.

He is also recognized by World eGovernment forum as one of the "Top 10 who are changing the world of politics on the internet". Marko Rakar is a past president of EAPC (European association of political consultants), current member of the board of IAPC (International association of political consultants), "School of politics" alumni (by Council of Europe), non-government expert on the subjects of open governance and data transparency, president of Croatian NGO Vjetrenjača (English: Windmill) which is dedicated to bringing transparency and promoting open governance to Croatian and international public. Marko is a member of international Association of Certified Fraud Examiners as well as secretary of Croatian chapter of Association of Certified Fraud Examiners Croatia.

Since 2012. he is also a junior fellow at the World academy of Arts and Science. In 2013. Marko Rakar received „Informatika“ medal awarded by Croatian Information Technology Association. This medal is given to the organizations and individuals for achieved results in expanding and promoting information technologies. Washington DC based COMPOL magazine selected Marko as one of top hundred most influential political professionals of the year 2017.

Rakar posjeduje dugogodišnje iskustvo u radu s i pisanju za medije kroz stotine stručnih članaka i kolumni. Marko kombinira svoje poznavanje medija i novih tehnologije te je jedan od najranijih korisnika i pionira korištenja interneta u Hrvatskoj. Marko je priznati predavač i savjetnik na područjima organizacije, interneta, novih medija, politike i statistike.

Rakar je upravljao ili bio savjetnik u većem broju političkih kampanja za organizacije, stranke ili neovisne kandidate na predsjedničkim, parlamentarnim ili lokalniim izborima u Europi, Aziji, Latinskoj i Sjevernoj Americi.

Marko je radio i sudjelovao u desetinama programa raznih međunarodnih institucija poput: Vijeća Europe, Europskog fonda za balkan, UNDP, OSCE, Svjetska Banka, Transparency International, U.S. State Department, Olof Palme International Center, Open Government Partnership (lokalni Hrvatski kao i krovni OGP), te Hrvatska Vlada i Državno odvjetništvo Republike Hrvatske, Porezna i Carinska uprava.

U svojem radu za vlade i trgovačka društva i druge institucije radio je kao data scientist i arhitekt naprednih statističkih, BI i sustava prediktivne analitike dizajniranih da identificiraju, spriječe i/ili otežaju kriminalne aktivnosti, predvide ponašanje kupaca, povećaju efikasnost procesa i pojednostave proces donošenja odluka.

Rakar je studirao filozofiju i informatologiju na Zagrebačkom sveučilištu. Tečno govori engleski, te je redoviti kolumnist i autor na cijelom nizu blogova, web stranica, novina i časopisa u Hrvatskoj i izvan nje.

Marko je dugogodišnji član žirija za Pollies nagrade Američkog udruženja političkih konzultanata, kao i član žirija za World eDemocracy nagrade. Marko Rakar je također nagrađen od strane World eGovernment foruma kao jedan od „Top 10 who are changing the world of politics on the Internet“, proglašen je jednim od šampiona otvorene vlasti od strane Sunlight fondacije. Marko je bio predsjednik Europskog udruženja političkih konzultanata, tajnik Svjetskog udruženja političkih konzultanata, alumni „School of politics“ Vijeća Europe, predsjednik udruge „Vjetrenjača“ koja promovira transparentnosti i otvorenu vlast i član TED-a.

Marko je gostujući predavač na nizu sveučilišta širom svijeta; Zagrebačko, Riječko, Sveučilište Sjever, Dubrovnik, Split, Ljubljana, Beograd, Beč, Zurich, Barcelona, Madrid, New York University, George Mason University, George Washington University.

Od 2012. godine Marko je također i mlađi član Svjetske akademije znanosti i umjetnosti, a u 2013. godini je primio medalju „Informatika“ od strane Hrvatskog informatičkog zbora koja se dodjeljuje organizacijama i osobama koje su ostvarile izvanredne rezultate u širenju i promociji informacijskih tehnologija.